Queen's birthday weekend

A quick reminder that all Rodney Libraries will be open their regular Saturday hours tomorrow. They'll be closed on Sunday and Monday for Queen's birthday weekend.

Travel safe, stay warm.

Happy Birthday Bridge

Birthday congratulations today to the Auckland Harbour Bridge. The Bridge celebrates 50 years on Sunday 31st May and, as you would expect for a lady of her age, has undergone a couple of facelifts during her time, while still retaining her status as both a practical link across the Waitemata Harbour and as an icon for Auckland City since 1959.

As part of the celebrations for the Bridge's 50th anniversary, two books have been produced. The first Auckland Harbour Bridge: 50 years of a city icon (Renee Lang) traces the history of the bridge from an idea, through the planning and construction stages, and through other events such as the clip ons, the Auckland Marathon and the toll booths. The book uses words and pictures to relay details and is suitable for both adult and children.

The second book is a reissue of the children's picture book Guardian of the Bridge (Diana Harris) which relays the tale of a Taniwha who sleeps in the Waitemata Harbour.

I am old enough to remember the toll booths but not what life was like before the Bridge. There are whole generations who have knowledge of neither. Both these books will make interesting talking points for families.

NZ Booksellers Choice Awards

Hot on the heels of winning the NZ Post Childrens Book Awards major prize, Kate de Goldi has made the shortlist for this year's Booksellers Choice Awards sponsored by Nielsen BookData. This award acknowledges the key role booksellers play in supporting New Zealand writing and publishing and booksellers are asked to vote for the book they have most enjoyed reading, selling and promoting. The award carries a prize of $NZ2500 for the winning author.

The 2009 shortlist is:
The 10pm Question by Kate De Goldi, published by Longacre Press
Ladies, a Plate by Alexa Johnston, published by Penguin Books NZ
Nga Tama Toa: The Price of Citizenship by Monty Soutar, published by David Bateman
Rita Angus: An Artist's Life by Jill Trevelyan, published by Te Papa Press

The winner will be announced in Auckland on 26 July.

Poetry competition for Years 4 to 13

Rodney Libraries are running a competition for students in Years 4 to 13 encouraging them to submit a podcast of an original poem during June. The Montana Poetry Day Poetry Aloud competition is in celebration of Montana Poetry day - this year on July 24 2009.
The competition runs from 1 - 30 June. One talented poet will win an MP3 player.
The podcast poetry competition was first run by Rodney Libraries last year. Helensville poet Daniel Howe, the judge of last year’s competition says, “Poetry shouldn't stay on the page - it needs to be shared and read aloud."

To enter children just need to write their poem and record it. It should then be emailed to rodneylibraries@yahoo.com.au as an attachment.

Entries must include the following information:

- name of poet

- contact details

- the school and year they attend

- their library card number (if they have one)

Rodney Libraries now have free computers with internet access and a range of multimedia features which children can use to record their poems at the library. Library staff can also provide advice about how to do this.

Entries to the podcast competition will be posted online at the competition website at http://mpdpoetryaloud.blogspot.com.

For more information about Montana Poetry Day visit: http://www.booksellers.co.nz/mpd_main.htm

Top 20 teen fiction titles issued in the past year

Here are the top 20 titles from the Teen fiction collection that were issued in the past year...

1. Kiss by Jacqueline Wilson
2. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer
3. Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer.
4. New moon / by Stephenie Meyer.
5. Breaking dawn / Stephenie Meyer.
6. All I want is everything / Cecily Von Ziegesar.
7. The dangerous days of Daniel X / James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.
8. Mad dogs / Robert Muchamore.
9. The sleepwalker / Robert Muchamore.
10. The fall / Robert Muchamore.
11. Maximum security / Robert Muchamore.
12. Snakehead / Anthony Horowitz.
13. Man vs beast / Robert Muchamore.
14. The killing / Robert Muchamore.
15. The general / by Robert Muchamore.
16. Before I die / Jenny Downham.
17. Class A / Robert Muchamore.
18. Dark Sun / Robert Muchamore.
19. The recruit / Robert Muchamore.
20. Story of a girl : a novel / by Sara Zarr.